UKAPS are incredibly excited to announce the UK's first ever dedicated live aquascaping event.

Our aim is to inspire and educate new and experienced hobbyists alike with a wide variety of exciting aquascaping experiences.

The UKAPS Aquascaping Experience will be held at a one-day event in the brilliant iCon Innovation Centre in Daventry on Saturday 5th March, starting at 10am.

Highlights include -

Hardscape Challenge - 10 competitors go head-to-head to create the best layout possible using a selection of high-quality hardscape materials. £1,000 prize money to be won!

Aquascaping Demonstration - UKAPS Founders, Dan Crawford and George Farmer take you through the process of creating a stunning rock-based aquascape.

Photography Workshop - Stu Worrall, professional photographer and leading UK aquascaper shows you how to take the best possible photo of your aquascape.

Aquascaping Seminar - George Farmer, the UK's most prolific aquascaper and international ambassador for the hobby will deliver a 60 minute talk on Aquascaping Principles.

Entry is free.

Come along and be inspired by the wonderful art of aquascaping, courtesy of UKAPS.

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https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/announcing-the-ukaps-aquascaping-experience-2016.39443/George FarmerGeorge Farmer88Report from the UKAPS Aquascaping Experience 2016
For me the UKAPS Aquascaping Experience 2016 has been the culmination of years of gradually building the UK aquascaping and planted tank scene to a point where UKAPS can justifiably host a free entry, world-class event.

UKAPS is well known for its active forum that enjoys a community of like-minded hobbyists with a wide range of experience levels. At the time of writing we are home to 12,000 international members, several experts and an array of highly-regarded sponsors.

Since we were founded in 2007 there has only been a handful of events where UKAPS has organised meetings with other UKAPS members.

A few of us got talking and soon a committee was formed to plan and host the UKAPS Aquascaping Experience.

The primary mission of UKAPS is to promote the planted tank and aquascaping hobby. We knew the best way to do this was to organise an event where hobbyists could get together at a suitable location and experience a fully packed day of aquascaping activities.

The selected venue in Daventry, UK was ideal. The iCon Innovation Centre’s building consisted of lots of glass, wood and steel with a modern interior design. It complimented all of the aquarium kit and aquascapes on show perfectly. It also had free parking, an on-site café and good accessibility for disabled visitors.

The event was hosted in two main areas. The huge reception area was occupied by the 10 Hardscape Challenge tanks and 3 live mature planted aquascapes, all positioned strategically along either size of the space.

The second area was the auditorium that had seating for around 200 visitors. A huge projector, great AV facilities and live streaming meant that everyone could enjoy the various presentations.

Setting up on the Friday went relatively smoothly, starting at 8am and finishing at 330pm. The Hardscape looked great laid out between the 10 challenge tanks, all supplied by Crystal Aqua. With over 1,000kg of hardscaping materials, the contestants were spoilt for choice. Three live mature aquascapes also added extra interest to the event.

Open day on Sat, 5th March at 10am was exciting. By 1015 the venue was buzzing and around 60 were seated ready for the first presentation with Dan and George. Dan aquascaped an 80cm ultra low iron tank supplied by Crystal Aqua with George providing running commentary. The main stone weighed around 45kg so a two man lift was required. Paulo Leal had successfully rigged up video cameras so the event could be both recorded and livestreamed on YouTube.

We broke off the live aquascaping at 1050am so the start of the Hardscape Challenge could begin. The entrants were all briefed about judging guidelines and they were ready to go at 11am.

Presentations in the auditorium ran throughout the rest of the day whilst the Hardscape Challenge continued up until 4pm. Peak visitor attendance was around 120. Overall capacity of the venue was around 250 so the 120 felt comfortable.

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https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/whos-coming-to-the-ukaps-aquascaping-experience-2016.39453/George FarmerGeorge Farmer91Who's coming to the UKAPS Aquascaping Experience 2016?
So who's coming along to this great event? It would be wonderful to meet you all and share our passion for this wonderful hobby!